节衣缩食 (jié yī suō shí) — to save on food and clothing; to live frugally (idiom)
Definition
A chéngyǔ describing living extremely frugally — cutting back on both food and clothing to save money. Stronger and more literary than the plain adjective 节约.
phrase
to save on food and clothingto live frugally (idiom)
Examples
- ,节衣缩食。Wèi le gěi fù mǔ mǎi fáng zi, tā jié yī suō shí le hǎo jǐ nián.To buy a house for his parents, he lived frugally for several years.
- ,节衣缩食。Jīng jì bù hǎo de shí hou, dà jiā zhǐ hǎo jié yī suō shí guò rì zi.When the economy is bad, people have no choice but to live frugally.
- 节衣缩食,。Yé ye yí bèi zi dōu jié yī suō shí, fēi cháng jié yuē.Grandpa lived frugally all his life; he was very thrifty.
Appears in
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